Garden Experience Guide

Corktown Common

A jewel at the base of the Don Valley Parkway, this award-winning park is built on a massive flood control berm near the mouth of the Don River, on former industrial lands. It features a lush landscape maintained using organic horticulture methods.

The 7.3 hectare (18 acre) park officially opened in 2014 featuring over 700 trees, and thousands of native shrubs and grasses, a marsh, lawns, urban prairies, playground areas, splash pad, a communal picnic table area with a fireplace, barbeque and washrooms. The park is the heart of an emerging high-rise community built as the athlete's village for the 2015 Pan Am/ Parapan Am Games.

When snow starts to pile up and you can’t step outside without wrapping yourself in three layers of clothing, what’s a Canadian garden lover to do? Head south, you say? But that requires a lot of cash and free time. I have a better, cheaper solution: why not visit the nearest public greenhouse?